The Rebel King (All the King's Men #2)

by Kennedy Ryan

“It may take some time, but you love me, and I will be okay.”

She closes her eyes and listens as I recite every race I watched from a distance, document every moment I saw her rise in her field. “I was proud of you then.” I dip to kiss her, just a quick brush of our lips. “And I’m proud of you now. Of course I know you can do this.”

“I love her,” I tell Grim softly, seriously. “I don’t own her. You don’t hold back someone like Lennix because the beauty is in how she flies. I want to see her soar. I just want to make sure she always lands safely. You know?”

“That’s it, baby,” he whispers between sucks and licks. “Break for me. Show me.”

Living for as long as I can with you is the dream, but please don’t ever think you get to stop loving me or I get to stop loving you. That shit won’t happen.”

“That’s a very sexy brain you’ve got there, Mr. Cade.” I wink at her. “Be a good girl and I’ll let you touch it.”

“You go months with no sun, but then you go months where the sun never sets.” “That’s a great way to describe forever.”

Cupping the back of my neck, he drags his lips to my ear. “Nix, I…” he rasps. “I need to fuck you.”

“Dad, if you keep looking at her like that,” I say, my voice soft but absolutely serious, “we’re going to have a problem.”

don’t fuck my candidates.” He throws his head back, his laughter rich all around me. “Okay, if I run, we’ll see how long that lasts.” “I’m serious.” I let it sink in and watch the humor drain from his expression. “You’re saying if I run, we can’t be together?”

He runs his hands down my arms and links our fingers, bending to whisper in my ear, brushing the words over my earlobe. “If I’m your candidate, you think you’d be able to not fuck me?”

He pulls back, the forest green of his eyes swallowed by midnight at the centers. “Ask me to fuck you, Nix.” I steel myself against the overwhelming appeal of his body and his desire for me. His cock is hard and ready against my thigh. “No.” The right side of his full mouth tips up into a “so it’s like that” grin, and he sinks to his knees, presses my legs wider, pushes the dress up, and pulls my panties down and off. He grabs my ass with both hands and presses his face into my pussy, sucking my clit hard.

“Ask me to fuck you.” “No.” I spread my legs wider, turning the temptation back on him. He closes his eyes and draws in a deep breath.

“It’s a lot to give up.” He bends a little until we’re eye to eye. “But what if those crazy kids who dreamed in a tulip field all those years ago about changing the world, about making it a better place, actually get to do it together?”

“Wow,” she says with a stiff smile. “Did I miss the proposal?” I lift her chin, locking our eyes and holding my breath. “Will you marry me, Lennix?”

I squeeze her waist and bend to whisper, deliberately brushing my lips over her earlobe. “We don’t have time for how I feel when you look at me like that.” “When I look at you like what?” she asks with a smoky laugh, pulling back to peer at me through an upsweep of lashes. “I think you know.” I brush a thumb over her cheek. “But don’t worry. I want it, too.”

“We weren’t unlikely, Nix,” I say, no levity in the words. “We were inevitable.” Her smile dissolves, too, until we’re staring at each other, and I’m feeling the weight of finding your person in a world full of somebodies. In a crowded galaxy, finding your star.